Society for Pure English, Tract 11 - Three Articles on Metaphor by Society for Pure English
page 6 of 29 (20%)
page 6 of 29 (20%)
|
into relation. Then the long arm of coincidence rolled up its sleeves
and set to work with a rapidity and vigour which defy description_. Modern overdoing, apart from burlesque, is chiefly accidental, and results not from too much care, but from too little. _The most irreconcilable of Irish landlords are beginning to recognize that we are on the eve of the dawn of a new day in Ireland_. 'On the eve of' is a dead metaphor for 'about to experience', and to complete it with 'the dawn of a day' is as bad as to say, _It cost one pound sterling, ten_ instead of _one pound ten_. C. Spoilt Metaphor The essential merit of real or live metaphor being to add vividness to what is being conveyed, it need hardly be said that accuracy of detail is even more necessary in metaphorical than in literal expressions; the habit of metaphor, however, and the habit of accuracy do not always go together. _Yet Taurès was the Samson who upheld the pillars of the Bloc._ _Yet what more distinguished names does the Anglican Church of the last reign boast than those of F.D. Maurice, Kingsley, Stanley, Robertson of Brighton, and even, if we will draw our net a little wider, the great Arnold?_ _He was the very essence of cunning, the incarnation of a book-thief._ Samson's way with pillars was not to uphold them; we draw nets closer, but cast them wider; and what is the incarnation of a thief? too, too |
|